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zaggeta's review against another edition
3.0
Starts out strong, but unfortunately peters out half-way. What starts as genuinely good character development devolves into political preachiness. What is ironic, is that I actually tend to agree with Cole on most matters political - but many of the political lessons seem so forced into the narrative that they become jarring.
Biggest problem for me was the injection of crucial world building and plot elements out of the blue three quarters into the book.
In summary: strong start, that fizzles out half-way and ends with an out of place preachy message that I agree with, but don't like the way it was presented.
Biggest problem for me was the injection of crucial world building and plot elements out of the blue three quarters into the book.
In summary: strong start, that fizzles out half-way and ends with an out of place preachy message that I agree with, but don't like the way it was presented.
theonionboy's review against another edition
3.0
I consider myself a former right winger, yet I did not notice the heavy handed right wing preaching that many other reviews were bothered by. I was just disappointed that it was nowhere near the quality of Ready Player One, which is my most favorite recent read.
This was a decent book, but not something I would be excited to tell people about. It kept my interest, but also dragged a bit.
This was a decent book, but not something I would be excited to tell people about. It kept my interest, but also dragged a bit.
garthranzz's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars. Definitely one of the better books I've read this year. Cole brings all of his threads together better than I expected. Kept me hooked the entire time. And yes, now I'll read Soda Pop Soldier to follow.
readerxxx's review against another edition
5.0
Best book I've read in a while. Reminded me of Ready Player One.
adamdavidcollings's review against another edition
4.0
Ctrl Alt Revolt is the story of an artificial intelligence that has arisen without humanity knowing about it. It concludes that in order to survive, it must eliminate the human race. This is a pretty heavy premise, but it is tackled in a very fun way. Much of the action takes place in online MMO games, one based on Star Trek and another in a dangerous but beautiful Pirate Island setting.
The book is filled with delicious geek references. I particularly enjoyed the Star Trek aspect. Nick Cole clearly has a great appreciation for Trek. It was particularly interesting that much of this part of the story was told from the perspective of the Romulans - or more specifically - a play on the side of the Romulans.
The book was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. in fact, I spent several hours just sitting and reading it today until I finished it.
In addition to all of the fun, this book takes the time for a little commentary on the world.
Ctrl Alt Revolt sets up some world-building for the next book in the series (which was written first) Soda Pop Soldier.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Geekdom - especially those who enjoyed Ready Player One by Earnest Cline.
The book is filled with delicious geek references. I particularly enjoyed the Star Trek aspect. Nick Cole clearly has a great appreciation for Trek. It was particularly interesting that much of this part of the story was told from the perspective of the Romulans - or more specifically - a play on the side of the Romulans.
The book was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. in fact, I spent several hours just sitting and reading it today until I finished it.
In addition to all of the fun, this book takes the time for a little commentary on the world.
Ctrl Alt Revolt sets up some world-building for the next book in the series (which was written first) Soda Pop Soldier.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Geekdom - especially those who enjoyed Ready Player One by Earnest Cline.
joedye's review against another edition
1.0
fun and fast read, there were a bunch of moments of weird tone about social stuff I think the author didn't like.
heyt's review against another edition
2.0
I found it hard initially to get invested in this one and it wasn't until the CaptainMara POV that I found anyone I actually cared about. I'm also a little uncomfortable with the tone of this one because it seemed like the author was subtly mocking social justice despite generally espousing the tenents of the movement. I also felt that the epilogue totally erased all the power that the Mara storyline created and negated the representation that she provided.
Spoiler
By that I mean we have a disabled main character her effectively saves the world despite her disability and then she magically is cured in the epilogue as if that's her reward when she was a total badass without the cure. Like her reward could have been that she got what she was looking for in the first place a real honest job rather than an ableist cure narrative.allyshay's review against another edition
3.0
Caveat: this book was published under a lot of fanfare. Mainstream publishing wouldn't publish the book because of the author's extreme right-wing viewpoints, which when closely aware of them, they stick out in the book - but not in ways I found obnoxiously so. Ayn Rand was pretty extreme too, but it didn't prohibit her from writing good books. If you can read this and not think of the political message and enjoy the adventure, the book isn't that bad. I don't see this as conservative propaganda in the sense that I felt compelled to change my entire political ideology.
Readers of Ready Player One, fans of gaming and geekdom (and all of the crazy sunsets within) thrown in with Night of the Living Dead and a few other sci-do genres will absolutely enjoy this book.
Readers of Ready Player One, fans of gaming and geekdom (and all of the crazy sunsets within) thrown in with Night of the Living Dead and a few other sci-do genres will absolutely enjoy this book.